1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to radiant-energy tools such as flashlights and fire starters and more particularly to a novel flashlight and a novel fire starter that are more versatile than conventional ones.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Flashlights or electric torches have been known for many decades and have antecedents in flaming torches and lanterns that have been known for centuries. From time immemorial there has been a need for a portable source of light that can be used at night and at other times when the general illumination is poor.
The invention of the electric flashlight was a major advance in the technology of portable, personal light sources. As compared to older forms of such light sources, the electric flashlight has many advantages: it can be easily and instantly turned on and off, it is "clean" (not messy to handle), it produces no smoke or odor, it is silent in operation, it produces good illumination, and it is quite safe for use, even by children. Moreover, modern flashlights can be made small enough to fit easily into a pocket or purse or the glove compartment of a car. Even though small, they produce good illumination, especially in view of recent improvements in battery and bulb technology.
However, despite the excellent characteristics of modern flashlights, they have certain drawbacks. A major drawback of conventional flashlights is that they are awkward to use under certain circumstances, as when it is necessary to employ both hands to perform a task that requires illumination. Examples include operating a battery-powered screwdriver, cutting cloth with scissors, examining documents, writing (while steadying the paper), setting a watch, sorting clothes, and searching for a small object in a purse or briefcase. When the general illumination is low, persons performing these and similar tasks with the aid of a flashlight resort to tucking the flashlight under an arm, cradling it between the neck and shoulder, balancing it on a nearby table, mantel or ledge, even holding it in the mouth, etc.
None of these makeshifts is very satisfactory. If it is necessary, for example, to employ a tool under the hood of a car, it is pure happenstance if a way can be found to balance a conventional flashlight on some portion of the car's fender or engine in such a manner that it illuminates the work properly. Similarly, if during a power outage the contents of a briefcase on a table are to be searched with the aid of a conventional flashlight resting on a mantel, it is unlikely that the interior of the briefcase will be adequately illuminated. That may leave a choice of hoisting the briefcase substantially to the height of the mantel and tilting it precariously to illuminate the interior, thereby foregoing the use of one hand in rummaging through the contents of the briefcase, or, better, leaving the briefcase on the table, holding the flashlight in one hand and rummaging with the other. In either case, only one hand is available for the task presented, the other being committed to holding the briefcase or the flashlight.
Another drawback of conventional flashlights is that they are rather specialized. The familiar cylindrical flashlight is designed specifically to be held in the hand. It is not well adapted to be worn on a belt, for example. On the other hand, there are conventional "right-angled" flashlights specialized for wearing on the belt. Such flashlights typically have a cylindrical battery housing adapted to be secured to a belt by a clip so that the axis of the cylindrical housing is vertical. The light bulb, reflector and lens are constructed to project the light in a direction at right angles to the cylindrical housing axis, that is to say horizontally. Such a light can be worn to light the way while walking and frees the hands to carry camp gear, books, tools or whatever. However, except for this specialized use, the right-angled flashlight is no better than the straight cylindrical flashlight. It is, in other words, not very versatile.
Book lights specialized for reading in bed, while traveling, etc., as disclosed in applicant's earlier U.S. patents, are also known, as are portable fluorescent lights as disclosed in applicant's earlier U.S. patent. Such lights can be designed to operate on house current, batteries, or both. A book light is excellent for its intended purpose, but, even if battery-powered, does not function as an all-purpose flashlight. A portable fluorescent light also gives excellent service, but it does not provide a complete solution to the problems of the prior art.
Another drawback of conventional flashlights is that they often will not reach an area in a crowded environment that requires illumination. The engine compartment of a modern car, for example, is crowded with hoses, belts and wires that limit access by tools. Sometimes it is necessary to illuminate a work area deeply recessed within the engine compartment so that a conventional flashlight must be held at a considerable distance from the work area. The tool in use may preempt the space along the line of sight to the work area, so that the flashlight must illuminate the work area from a different angle. When the flashlight cannot be brought close to the work area, the hoses, belts, wires, etc., may cast deep shadows that prevent adequate illumination of the work area.
Attempts have been made heretofore to improve the versatility of flashlights. For example, flashlights are commonly made with a focusing adjustment to enable selection of a floodlight or a spotlight. Also, flashlights are sometimes provided with lenses of different colors (red, yellow, clear, etc.) so that they can be used primarily for illumination (clear lens), warning (red lens), signaling (red lens, clear lens, etc.), illumination combined with adaptation to the dark (red lens), or another purpose. However, prior attempts to increase the versatility of the flashlight have met with only limited success, and the most advanced flashlights of today, while benefitting from recent improvements in battery and bulb technology, are in their basic design virtually indistinguishable from flashlights that were commercially available decades ago.
In order to start a fire in a fireplace or stove or light a charcoal grill, it is the usual practice to lay a fuel bed and set a lighted match to it. In the case of a fireplace, the fuel bed often includes logs laid on top of kindling and crumpled newspapers. In the case of an outdoor grill, the fuel bed often includes charcoal briquettes. In both cases, it is the practice of many people to add a petroleum-based fluid or gel as a starting fuel.
Starting a fire is recognized as a dangerous procedure, especially if a liquid or gel starter fluid is used. Starter fuel is highly flammable and more or less volatile, depending on the choice of starter fuel.
Despite warnings, every year some people use gasoline as a starter fuel and are severely burned because of the extreme volatility of gasoline and the tendency of the vapor rising from the fuel bed to explode at the approach of a lighted match.
Kerosene is a less volatile and a safer starter fuel than gasoline but still dangerous, especially if used by people with no special training in starting fires.
Various commercial products have been developed expressly for use as starter fuels. While such products may be relatively nonvolatile, they must be sufficiently flammable to be lighted by brief contact with a lighted match and thus cannot be regarded as completely safe. In fact, a starter fuel that is insufficiently volatile and flammable ceases to be useful for its intended purpose.
The danger is all the greater because a match is usually relatively short and becomes shorter still as it burns. Thus the fingers of a person--even a very careful person--starting a fire may be literally only a fraction of an inch from the flame when the starter fuel ignites. A person trying to start a fire using a relatively "safe" starter fuel may find that the match burns down and singes the fingers before it ignites the starter fuel.
Another problem attendant upon starting a fire in a fireplace or grill is that fireplaces and grills usually have an abundance of ashes and soot and manage to dirty the hands of a person using a match to start a fire, especially since the hands must get very close to the bed of fuel in order to get the flame of the match in all the right places. In order to give the fire a good start, it is desirable to place the flame of the match in contact with the fuel bed at a number of spaced-apart locations. Moreover, these locations should be at or near the bottom of the fuel bed, since heat rising from a part of the fuel bed that has been ignited ignites fuel more readily at a higher level than at a lower level. This requires that the person starting the fire poke the match deep into the fuel bed, and it is nearly inevitable that the hands become soiled in the process.
Attempts have been made heretofore to make the process of starting a fire safer and cleaner. An old technique is to use a match only to light a taper and use the taper to light the fuel bed. Makeshift tapers such as a rolled-up sheet of newspaper or strip of cardboard are often employed. Such tapers leave much to be desired, however. They burn down at a rate that is unpredictable and produce a flame of unpredictable size. In many cases they produce ash that may fall outside the fireplace, stove or grill. They are inconvenient to make and in many cases they are suitable to be used only once, then thrown into the fireplace, stove or grill and consumed; often a search must be made for a suitable material, and sometimes none is at hand.
A much better alternative, of which the present applicant is a joint inventor, replaces both a match and a taper and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,983. This devices comprisesa housing for a fuel container, a piezoelectric igniting device, and an extension tube mounted on the forward end of the housing and pivotable from a folded position to an extended position. A flame can be provided at the distal end of the extension tube, remote from the user's hand. The housing has a recess in which a pushbutton is positioned for supplying the fuel and actuating the igniting device simultaneously. When the extension tube is folded, it lies parallel to the housing over the recess and the pushbutton so that the lighter cannot be accidentally ignited. Applicant hereby incorporates the disclosure of that patent herein by reference.
The fire starter described in the cited patent has enormous advantages as compared to the use of a match and taper. However, it does not represent a complete solution to the problem of starting fires. Consider the following situation, which is often encountered: a grate supporting the fuel bed may be reachable only over the top of some barrier such as the rim of a bowl of a charcoal grill or the lower edge of a stove doorway. In order to get the flame to various points at or near the bottom of the fuel bed, it may be necessary, for example, to insert the hand all the way into the grill or stove. In some cases, there is simply no way to position the flame ideally with respect to the fuel bed, given the rigidity of the pivotable extension. The problems of danger, dirt and inconvenience mentioned above in connection with matches and tapers have thus not been entirely avoided by recent advances in the art.